JustinGyurik Research River II Educational Value in User Generated Content within Immersive Learning Environments
Introduction In the age of web 2.0, we are seeing the shift from site developer generated content to user generated content (UGC) on the web. From social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to the largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, most if not all of the content on these websites is completely generated by those who use it.
UGC can be defined in many ways. However, it is important not to define it narrowly (Wales, 2009.) UGC is any content that is developed by a user of an online medium which contributes to the entire medium as a whole (although in some cases the user can choose to keep the content private.)
The concept of UGC raises three questions in terms of education and immersive learning environments: Why are large companies switching to UGC? What are the educational benefits of UGC on the web? How does UGC contribute to immersive learning simulations?
Why is the internet shifting towards UGC? UGC is not a new concept in terms of the internet. It has been around for well over a decade in the form of personal homepages that originated in the mid 1990s through companies like AOL and Geocities. However these sites could only merely link to other sites with no compatibility to be embedded and shared in the ways that sites are today. For example, a user can now upload a video to YouTube and has the option to share this video through a multitude of social networking sites, RSS feeds, and even smart phone messages.
Let’s look at the top ten websites from 1997: 1. Geocities 2. Yahoo
3. Starwave Corporation
4. Excite
5. PathFinder
6. AltaVista Search Engine
7. AOL Member Home Pages 8. CNET
9. The New York Times on the Web
10. Ziff Davis On this list, only AOL and Geocities are sites where UGC made a significant portion of the sites’ content.
Now lets look at the top ten websites from 2007: 1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. Myspace 4. Microsoft Network (MSN)
5. YouTube 6.eBay 7. Facebook 8. Windows Live
9. Craigslist 10. Wikipedia(Chatfield, 2007.)
Now we see that six of the ten websites consist mostly of UGC. Furthermore, the other four sites on the list do have areas for UGC, it just isn’t a significant portion of the sites overall content share. Now this merely proves the shift of content exists. What is causing this shift?
Webby Awards executive Director, David-Michael Davies, believes that this shift is the “emergence of a culture of information sharing-where we get as much information from each other as we do from media… We see how participation from individuals around the world is the key driver of innovation online” (Poole 2010.) Media from the beginning has been in very passive forms. Look at newspapers, radio, and television. Yes, you could call in to radio stations or write a letter to the editor, but that was very basic interaction. The internet instantly caused media to shift from a one way transmission to a two way transmission. Users immediately were using the internet to get their own voice heard after decades of a form of media oppression. The technology was forced to evolve with this demand from the people.
What are the educational dangers and benefits of UGC? Dangers With the open nature of UGC, there are a few things that educators should be concerned with. Most of the UGC on the internet is regulated. However, the regulations do not necessarily make all UGC appropriate for all viewers and contexts. All UGC that is to be used for classroom use should be carefully monitored by the instructor.
Benefits On the other hand, educational mediums using are shown to have many benefits. First, the process of content creation and sharing among learners and instructors is an effective way to build and simulate professional relationships (Trotter, 2008.) Next, as UGC is becoming a standard in everyday internet use, its familiarity is showing that it is a logical step to incorporate it into learning to add a sense of comfort for the learner (Caverly, 2008.) Learners, who interact with the environment and respond to the expected interactions that they trust the environment would offer for them, constantly determine niches.
How does UGC contribute to immersive learning simulations?
In the context of immersive learning simulations, UGC can be used to create the entire environment including landscape, interactive objects, textures, clothes, avatars, and context. SecondLife is an excellent example of UGC in an immersive learning environment. For that reason, the following points will use SecondLife as an example.
Convenience and cost efficiency In SecondLife, any user is able to create content within the environment. This content can then be distributed to the rest of the SecondLife community. This creates an endless realm of possibilities for customization among educators. Not only can they create custom content for their learning simulations, they can also choose from the entire pre-made content from the SecondLife marketplace. Therefore, it is possible customize the environment for little (if any) cost and great convenience.
Learner customization of environment Learners that interact with and customize the environment they are learning in tend to trust the environment more(Pata, 2009.) With this trust, the learners feel more comfortable within the learning environment. The ability to create and co-create content with their peers allows for a very engaging experience. The learners feel more connected with the individual lessons allowing for more information retention.
Citations
Caverly, D., Nicholson, S., Battle, J., & Atkins, C. (2008). Techtalk: Web 2.0, Blogs, and Developmental Education. Journal of Developmental Education, 32(1), 34-35. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Pata, K. (2009). Modeling spaces for self-directed learning at university courses. Journal of EducationalTechnology & Society, 12(3), 23-43. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Poole, K. (2010). A Social Revolution: The 10 Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade. EContent, 33(1), 14-15. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Trotter, A. (2008). Educators Assess 'Open Content' Movement. Education Week, 27(43), 8-9. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Wales, J., & Weckerle, A. (2009). MOST DEFINE USER-GENERATED CONTENT TOO NARROWLY.Advertising Age, 80(11), 38. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Research River II
Educational Value in User Generated Content within Immersive Learning Environments
Introduction
In the age of web 2.0, we are seeing the shift from site developer generated content to user generated content (UGC) on the web. From social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to the largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, most if not all of the content on these websites is completely generated by those who use it.
UGC can be defined in many ways. However, it is important not to define it narrowly (Wales, 2009.) UGC is any content that is developed by a user of an online medium which contributes to the entire medium as a whole (although in some cases the user can choose to keep the content private.)
The concept of UGC raises three questions in terms of education and immersive learning environments: Why are large companies switching to UGC? What are the educational benefits of UGC on the web? How does UGC contribute to immersive learning simulations?
Why is the internet shifting towards UGC?
UGC is not a new concept in terms of the internet. It has been around for well over a decade in the form of personal homepages that originated in the mid 1990s through companies like AOL and Geocities. However these sites could only merely link to other sites with no compatibility to be embedded and shared in the ways that sites are today. For example, a user can now upload a video to YouTube and has the option to share this video through a multitude of social networking sites, RSS feeds, and even smart phone messages.
Let’s look at the top ten websites from 1997:
1. Geocities
2. Yahoo
3. Starwave Corporation
4. Excite
5. PathFinder
6. AltaVista Search Engine
7. AOL Member Home Pages
8. CNET
9. The New York Times on the Web
10. Ziff Davis
On this list, only AOL and Geocities are sites where UGC made a significant portion of the sites’ content.
Now lets look at the top ten websites from 2007:
1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. Myspace
4. Microsoft Network (MSN)
5. YouTube
6. eBay
7. Facebook
8. Windows Live
9. Craigslist
10. Wikipedia (Chatfield, 2007.)
Now we see that six of the ten websites consist mostly of UGC. Furthermore, the other four sites on the list do have areas for UGC, it just isn’t a significant portion of the sites overall content share. Now this merely proves the shift of content exists. What is causing this shift?
Webby Awards executive Director, David-Michael Davies, believes that this shift is the “emergence of a culture of information sharing-where we get as much information from each other as we do from media… We see how participation from individuals around the world is the key driver of innovation online” (Poole 2010.) Media from the beginning has been in very passive forms. Look at newspapers, radio, and television. Yes, you could call in to radio stations or write a letter to the editor, but that was very basic interaction. The internet instantly caused media to shift from a one way transmission to a two way transmission. Users immediately were using the internet to get their own voice heard after decades of a form of media oppression. The technology was forced to evolve with this demand from the people.
What are the educational dangers and benefits of UGC?
Dangers
With the open nature of UGC, there are a few things that educators should be concerned with. Most of the UGC on the internet is regulated. However, the regulations do not necessarily make all UGC appropriate for all viewers and contexts. All UGC that is to be used for classroom use should be carefully monitored by the instructor.
Benefits
On the other hand, educational mediums using are shown to have many benefits. First, the process of content creation and sharing among learners and instructors is an effective way to build and simulate professional relationships (Trotter, 2008.) Next, as UGC is becoming a standard in everyday internet use, its familiarity is showing that it is a logical step to incorporate it into learning to add a sense of comfort for the learner (Caverly, 2008.) Learners, who interact with the environment and respond to the expected interactions that they trust the environment would offer for them, constantly determine niches.
How does UGC contribute to immersive learning simulations?
In the context of immersive learning simulations, UGC can be used to create the entire environment including landscape, interactive objects, textures, clothes, avatars, and context. SecondLife is an excellent example of UGC in an immersive learning environment. For that reason, the following points will use SecondLife as an example.
Convenience and cost efficiency
In SecondLife, any user is able to create content within the environment. This content can then be distributed to the rest of the SecondLife community. This creates an endless realm of possibilities for customization among educators. Not only can they create custom content for their learning simulations, they can also choose from the entire pre-made content from the SecondLife marketplace. Therefore, it is possible customize the environment for little (if any) cost and great convenience.
Learner customization of environment
Learners that interact with and customize the environment they are learning in tend to trust the environment more(Pata, 2009.) With this trust, the learners feel more comfortable within the learning environment. The ability to create and co-create content with their peers allows for a very engaging experience. The learners feel more connected with the individual lessons allowing for more information retention.
Citations
Caverly, D., Nicholson, S., Battle, J., & Atkins, C. (2008). Techtalk: Web 2.0, Blogs, and Developmental Education. Journal of Developmental Education, 32(1), 34-35. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Chatfield, Anthony. The Top 10 Websites in 1997 and 2007 What’s Changed? (2007) Retrieved October 15, 2010, from .
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/top-10-websites-in-1997-and-2007-whats-changed.html
Pata, K. (2009). Modeling spaces for self-directed learning at university courses. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(3), 23-43. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Poole, K. (2010). A Social Revolution: The 10 Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade. EContent, 33(1), 14-15. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Trotter, A. (2008). Educators Assess 'Open Content' Movement. Education Week, 27(43), 8-9. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Wales, J., & Weckerle, A. (2009). MOST DEFINE USER-GENERATED CONTENT TOO NARROWLY.Advertising Age, 80(11), 38. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.